* For prayer and devotion are
"But melancholy breath."
5. He tells the aged, "they must die,
"And 'tis too late to pray;
" In vain for mercy now they cry,
"For they have lost their day."
6. Thus he supports his cruel throne
By mischief and deceit,
And drags the sons of Adam down
To darkness and the pit.
Hymn 211. с. м.
OW vain are all things here below!
How false, and yet how fair!
Each pleasure hath its poison too,
And every sweet a snare.
2. 'The brightest things below the sky
Give but a flatť'ring light;
We should suspect some danger nigh,
Where we possess delight.
3. Our dearest joys and nearest friends,
The partners of our blood,
How they divide our wav'ring minds!
And leave but half for God.
4. The fondness of a creature's love
How strong it strikes the sense !
Thither the warm affections move;
Nor can we call them thence.
5. Dear Saviour! let thy beauties be
My soul's eternal food;
And grace command my heart away
From all created good.
Let the wicked forsake his way, &c. Isaiah Iv. 7.
INNERS, the voice of God regard;
'Tis Mercy speaks to-day;
He calls you by his sov'reign word,
From sin's destructive way.
2. Like the rough sea that cannot rest,
You live devoid of peace;
A thousand stings within your breast,
Deprive your souls of ease.
3. Your way is dark, and leads to hell;
Why will you persevere ?
Can you in endless torments dwell,
Shut up in black despair ?
4. Why will you in the crooked ways
Of sin and folly go?
In pain you travel all your days,
To reap immortal woe!
Hymn 213. P. M.
From the German.
1. FATHER of lights, from whom proceeds Whate'er thy ev'ry creature needs;
Whose goodness, providently nigh,
Feeds the young ravens when they cry:
To thee I look, my heart prepare:
Suggest and harken to my pray'r.,
2. Since, by thy light, myself I see
Naked, and poor, and void of thee;
Thine eyes must all my thoughts survey,
Preventing what my lips would say:
Thou seest my wants, for help they call,
And ere I speak thou know'st them all.
3. 'Thou know'st the baseness of my mind,
Wayward, and impotent, and blind:
Thou know'st how unsubdu'd my will,
Averse to good, and prone to ill:
Thou know'st how wide my passions rove,
Nor check'd by fear, nor charm'd by love.
4. Fain would I know as known by thee,
And feel the indigence I see;
Fain would I all my vileness own,
And deep beneath the burden groan;
Abhor the pride that lurks within,
Detest and loathe myself and sin.
5. Ah! give me, Lord, myself to feel.
My total misery reveal;
Ah! give me Lord, (I still would say)
A heart to mourn, a heart to pray:
My bus'ness this, my only care,
My life, my ev'ry breath be pray'r.
I could repent!
O that I could believe!
Thou, by thy voice, the marble rent,
The rock in sunder cleave!
Thou by thy two-edg'd sword,
My soul and spirit part;
Strike with the hammer of thy word,
And break my stubborn heart.
2. Saviour, and Prince of peace,
The double grace bestow;
Unloose the bands of wickedness,
And let the captive go;
Grant me my sins to feel,
And then the load remove;
Wound, and pour in my wounds, to heal,
The balm of pardʼning love.
3. For thine own mercy's sake,
My guilt and sin remove;
And into thy protection take
The pris'ner of thy love.
In ev'ry trying hour,
Stand by my feeble soul,
And screen me from temptation's pow'r, 'Till thou hast made me whole.
4. This is thy will, I know,
That I should holy be;
Should let my sins this moment go,
This moment turn to thee:
might I now embrace
Thine all-sufficient pow'r!
And never more to sin give place,
And never grieve thee more!
Hymn 215. P. M.
ESUS, let thy pitying eye
Call back a wand'ring sheep;
False to thee, like Peter, I
Would fain like Peter weep:
Let me be by grace restor'd;
On me be all long-suff'ring shown:
Turn and look upon me Lord,
And break my heart of stone.
2. Saviour, Prince, enthron'd above,
Repentance to impart,
Give me, through redeeming-love,
The humble, contrite heart:
Give, what I have long implor'd,
A portion of thy grief unknown:
Turn, and look upon me, Lord,
And break my heart of stone...
3. For thine own compassion's sake,
The gracious wonder show;
Cast my sins behind thy back,
And wash me white as snow:
If thy bowels now are mov'd;
If I now myself bemoan:
Turn and look upon me, Lord,
And break my heart of stone.
4. See me, Saviour, from above,
Nor suffer me to die!
Life and happiness, and love,
Drop from thy gracious eye;
Speak the reconciling word,
And let thy mercy melt me down:
Turn, and look upon me, Lord,
And break my heart of stone.
Hymn 216. с. м.
if still thou art to-day
As yesterday the same,
Present to heal, in me display
The virtue of thy name..
2. If still thou go'st about to do,
Thy needy creatures good;..
On me, that I thy praise may show,
Be all thy wonders show'd.
3. Now Lord, to whom for help I call,
Thy miracles repeat;
With pitying eye behold me fall
A' leper at thy feet.
4. Loathsome, and foul, and self-abhorr'd,
I sink beneath my sin;
But if thou wilt, a gracious word
Of thine, can make me clean.
5. Thou seest me deaf to thy cammands,
Open, O Lord, my ear:
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